


Until Proven Guilty

by sweetiepie08



Category: The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (TV)
Genre: Hinting at deet/gurjin/rian but it's gonna be hard given the circumstances of the fic, Other, Pre-OT3, trial au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-18 08:20:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28740126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetiepie08/pseuds/sweetiepie08
Summary: After witnessing Mira being drained by the Skeksis, Rian is captured before he can convince his fellow gelfling of the truth. The Skeksis have branded him a murderer and popular opinion agrees, but the All-Maudra insists on a fair trial. Though he is now the most hated gelfling in Thra, he is not completely alone. His best friend strives to prove his innocence, a princess is determined to find the truth, and a stranger from Grot believes in him. Together, they may be able to save, not only Rian's life, but the lives of all gefling.
Relationships: Deet/Gurjin/Rian (Dark Crystal)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 11





	Until Proven Guilty

Rian caught glimpses of information as he snuck through the castle halls. He knew the Skeksis were looking for him and the guard joined in their search. What he didn’t know was what the Skeksis told them about him.

He considered most of his fellow guard his friends, especially the ones he went through training with, but he wasn’t close with all of them. They were trained to follow orders, especially ones given directly by the Lords. If he were ordered to hunt down one of his brothers or sisters in arms, one he didn’t know very well, would he question it? What he needed was someone who would at least give him the chance to dreamfast before raising the alarm.

And as of just a few minutes ago, that left only one option.

Great Thra, it felt like a knife to the heart to think of Mira. To remember she was gone, dead, murdered. Less than an hour ago, they were chasing down a spitter for personal glory. It was all his fault. If he hadn’t insisted they go after it together, they never would have stumbled into that chamber and the Skeksis never would have killed her.

But Rian saw it all, and now, he needed to warn everyone before it was too late for someone else. First, he needed proof that they were draining gelfling and he saw the Scientist put some of Mira’s essence in a vial. He needed that if he was going to spread the truth, but he couldn’t do it alone.

Finally he found Gurjin at his post, but he wasn’t alone. Rian hid in the shadows as he listened.

“Drenchen?” Gurjin burst indignantly. “You know my name Tolyn…”

Of course it was Tolyn, at the worst possible time too. That beak kisser probably clicked his heels with joy when he heard Rian was in trouble.

“Since when is it just Drenchen?”

“Since your best friend broke the oath and murdered Mira,” Tolyn shot back.

His heart dropped. Murder? That’s what they were saying about him? They couldn’t possibly believe that, could they? That he’d murder Mira? His love? One of his best friends?

Evidently, at least Tolyn did. It was honestly a shock to hear. He and Tolyn never saw eye-to-eye, but he never thought Tolyn could believe he was capable of cold-blooded murder.

But Gurjin had to know he would never hurt Mira, didn’t he?

“Are you loyal to your friend or to your oath?” Tolyn pried, the implication clear in his tone.

“To my oath,” Gurjin insisted, “same as you.”

Rian shrunk further into the shadows. He couldn’t get Gurjin involved. If Tolyn was any indication, they already suspected him. If he got Gurjin’s help and they both got caught before they could get the truth out, it’d be over for both of them, perhaps for all gelfling. If he went alone, at least Gurjin would still have a chance.

_Alright, alone then._

[-]

One of the advantages of growing up in the castle was that Rian knew almost every inch of it. And, mischievous adventurer he was as a child, he even knew the places he wasn’t supposed to know. There were many secret passages and alternate routes to take advantage of and, with everyone searching the rest of the castle, no one was watching the Scientist’s lab.

He climbed down the wall of the Crystal’s cavern, trying not to think about the long fall he would take if his hand slipped. When he reached the lab, he jumped out onto the floor and found himself by the Scientist’s curious machines. He already saw what horrors one of those machines was capable of. Some dark part of his mind wondered about the rest.

He shook off his morbid curiosity and turned to search the room for the vial. If the Scientist was keeping extra essence for himself, surely the lab was the safest place to hide it. After some looking, he found a small cabinet protected by a locksnake. The blue glow from behind the bars proved this was the right place.

“Hello little beastie,” Rian whispered. The locksnake’s eye slithered in his direction. “I need to get in there, please.” He reached out. The snake spit out its tail just long enough to snap at him before swallowing it again.

“How about a nice, gritty pebble,” he tried again. He picked up a small stone and offered it to the snake. He knew locksnakes were picky about the minerals they consumed and a pebble from the ground would hardly be tempting, but he didn’t have many options. The snake did lift its head and gave the stone a lick. “Go on, take it.”

The locksnake opened its jaws and clamped down on Rian’s thumb. He jerked back with a slip of an old gelfling curse and grabbed his bleeding hand. The snake seemed to snicker at him as it resumed its locked position.

The sound of footsteps echoed in the halls. He ducked underneath one of the tables and watched as the Chamberlain slinked into the room. His heart tightened as the Skeksis went straight for the locked cabinet.

The Skeksis took out a pendulum and swung it before the locksnake’s eyes. The locksnake followed the swinging pendulum and seemed to slip deeper and deeper into a trance. When he drew the locksnake out enough, the Chamberlain snatched it from its perch and tossed the creature in his mouth. He chomped it to bits, leaving blood smeared on his beak, then opened the cabinet.

Rian’s heart squeezed tighter as he watched the Chamberlain reach in and steal the last of Mira’s essence.

“Hmmm… Just a little taste,” The Chamberlain murmured, bringing the cork to his beak.

Rage lit Rian’s insides on fire. They wouldn’t have another drop of Mira, not if he could stop them. He wanted to spring out and wrestle the vial out of the murderer’s filthy claws. Before he could do anything rash, the Scientist swept in and interrupted the Chamberlain’s indulgences.

The Skeksis spoke, their words dancing around each other in a careful charade. Rian paid little mind to their petty infighting and kept his eyes on the vial. _Mira._

The Chamberlain tucked it in his sleeves, but a tell-tale glow could still be seen to those that watched for it. Rian’s mind shifted through several plans to somehow escape with it, though none with much chance of ending well. But then, the Scientist’s words pricked his ears.

“Wait… I smell gelfling.”

His heartbeat quickened as the Skeksis sniffed the air.

“Stonewood,” The Chamberlain observed.

“Rian…” The Scientist answered.

His heart pounded so hard, he feared they might hear it. They drew closer and he huddled against the table’s leg, trying to think of an escape route. He could now see the hems of the Skeksis’ robes grazing the outside his hiding place. Just when he was deciding which direction to run, something else caught the Scientist’s attention.

“What’s this?” He said, taking a few steps away from the table. “Thief!”

“Not I,” The Chamberlain retorted. “Must have been gelfling.”

“I might have believed you if not for the locksnake bits in your teeth,” The Scientist returned.

Of course, he must have seen the empty cabinet. The Skeksis dove into a quarrel, completely forgetting the gelfling in the room. This was his chance. He could slip out while they were distracted. But he couldn’t leave Mira behind, not again. He needed that vial.

Thra finally blessed him with some luck when, in their fight, the vial fell to the floor, just within his reach. He swiped his hand out and swept it up. With Mira back in his arms, they just needed to make their escape.

He dashed out from under the table as the Skeksis continued their brawl. Their fighting blocked his way to the hall, but that didn’t mean there was no way out. He slipped the vial in a loop on his belt and turned to see the lit-up shaft in the wall. He climbed down, so why not climb up?

“Rian!” one of the Skeksis cried behind him.

He didn’t spare them a look back. He took a running leap into the cavern and clung to the rocks on the wall. His eyes squeezed shut on impact and he didn’t open them until he was sure he was not, in fact, plummeting to his death.

“He’s absconding with the vial!” The Scientist shouted.

That was his queue to start climbing. Up he went as the Skeksis now quarreled over whose fault his escape was. The further he climbed, the fainter their voices grew.

“It’s alright, Mira,” he muttered, pulling himself up another handhold. “I’ve got you.”

[-]

Soon, he was back to running through the halls, but this time, he wasn’t trying to avoid the guards. He was looking for them. Now that he had Mira’s essence, he had all the proof he needed of the Skeksis’ crimes. With this, he could rally the guard against them.

But it seemed that one drop of luck he got in the lab was all he had allotted for the day. He finally came across a group of gelfling, but their familiar faces were far from friendly and Tolyn led the charge. 

“There he is!” Tolyn shouted.

“Rian!”

“Murderer!”

They moved in on him. He held up his hands, hoping they’d at least pause at his seeming surrender. “Wait, stop! You’ve got it all wrong!”

“What are you talking about?” one asked, but Tolyn cut him off.

“No, don’t listen to his lies,” Tolyn commanded, casting Rian a deadly glare. “Get him.”

They closed in on him again, hurling accusations. He tried to shout over them to listen, but their angry cries drowned him out. Finally, one voice rang out above all others.

“Wait!”

The crowd quieted as Gurjin pushed his way to the front. “Everyone just calm down!”

“Don’t give him a chance to talk,” Tolyn protested. “He’s a murderer.”

“He’s our friend,” Gurjin shot back. “We can at least give him a chance to explain.” He turned back to Rian. “Tell us what happened. Where’s Mira?”

“Mira…” he began. His hands shook as he willed himself to say the words out loud. “Mira is dead.”

“He admits it!” a guard in the back shouted. “He is a murderer!”

“Shut up, Gaunt!” Gurjin snapped. “I’ll knock your helmet off with your head still in it.”

“You would, Drenchen!”

The group broke into an uproar again. Accusations flew in every direction while the guards worked to keep Gurjin and Gaunt apart. They only stopped when Rian raised his voice.

“Mira was murdered!” Rian cried. All eyes turned to him. “By the Skeksis!”

A million questions were thrown at him, mainly consisting of “how?” and “why?”

“They drained her of her essence. This,” he held the vial high, so everyone could see, “is all that’s left of her.”

Gurjin gazed at the vial in horror and awe. “How can that be Mira?”

“They used a machine and the Crystal to turn her to this. It’s all in a secret chamber below the castle.”

“A secret chamber?” Gurjin asked.

“That’s a small vial to be all of Mira,” Tolyn scoffed.

“It’s not all.” Rian brought down the vial and gazed into it, once again struck by the reality. _Just this morning you were smiling and laughing with me. How can you now be this?_ “They drank most of her.”

Tolyn sniffed. “They drank her?”

“It’s the truth!” He looked around at all their faces. They looked shocked, confused, even horrified, but not at the Skeksis. They were all looking at him. He turned to Gurjin. Surely his best friend didn’t believe the Lords’ lies over him. “You believe me, don’t you?”

Gurjin looked from him to the vial. His face grew grim as he reached out his hand. “Give me the vial,” he said slowly, gently, like he was talking to a childling.

 _Or a lunatic._ Rian’s heart dropped. “You… you don’t believe me…” He shot out his hand. If they didn’t believe his words, surely they’d believe his memories. “Dreamfast with me.”

Gurjin shook his head. “I can’t. Just give me the vial. We’ll talk about this.”

Somehow, his heart shattered even more. “No! No, stay back!” Rian drew his sword.

Gurjin’s shocked eyes stared back at him. “Rian…”

“I said stay back!” He held his sword steady and backed away from them, tears forming in his eyes. “This is all that’s left of Mira, and I’ll protect it with my life!”

A claw wrapped around him, pinning his arms to his sides. “No!” he shouted, struggling to maneuver his sword. He managed to slide his blade across the back of the hand, only to clang against cold steel.

“Excellent work cornering this traitor,” the General said, pulling Rian back. “We’ll take it from here.”

Another claw swooped in and snatched the vial from his hands. Rian fought to grab it. “No! Give that back! You monsters!”

“Rian is clearly delusional,” The Chamberlain said, tucking Mira’s essence back into his sleeve. “Would be dangerous if he were allowed to wander around.”

Rian thrashed against them, struggling to break free. “Don’t listen to them!” Rian begged. “They’re the murderers! They’re the ones who killed Mira!” He continued to fight, praying that even one guard would believe him and come to his aid, but none made any move to help him.

“That will be all, gelfling. Return to your posts,” the General ordered. “Tolyn, when I get this prisoner in a cell, I want to talk to you about guard rotation.”

“Yes, sir.” Tolyn saluted and started shepherding the guards away.

The General began dragging him away and he watched as the gap between himself and his fellow gelfling grew wider and wider. “Don’t trust them!” He had to make them listen. They had to know what was at stake. “They’re murderers! They’ll kill us all!”

He continued to waste his breath as the guards dispersed. None of them believed him. None of them would hear the truth. Only Gurjin lingered behind with doubt in his eyes until a sharp word from Tolyn called him away.

[-]

Being thrown in a cell in the castle he spent most of his life in had one advantage. At least he knew the guards posted at his door. For trine he trained with them, drank with them, laughed with them. They were his brothers and sisters in arms as well as his friends. They knew him. They must have their doubts. He just had to get through to one of them, anyone, at least enough to get them to dreamfast with him. If he could get just one to see the truth, they could rise up and stop Mira’s fate from falling on anyone else.

“Come on, Rohn,” Rian begged the Spriton at his door. “We were drill partners just this morning. I came at you with a spear. Were you scared of me then?”

Rohn glanced at him, but said nothing. It was progress.

“Do you really think I’m a cold-blooded killer? Do you think I’m capable of hurting someone I cared for?”

Rohn remained silent, but his eyes turned to the floor. Rian guessed he might be getting somewhere, but he couldn’t help but wonder what this was like on the other side. What if one of his fellow guards was branded a murderer thrown in a cell? Would he believe what the Skeksis told him? Would he be able to stand silently at his post while someone he considered a friend begged for his life?

A squeak of hinges and footsteps alerted Rian to someone else in the dungeons, but the view from his cell didn’t allow him to see who. “Shift change,” the new voice said and hope rose in Rian’s chest.

“You?” Rohn spat, glaring at this new person.

“Yes, me,” Gurjin answered, stepping into view. “If you’d rather argue about it than get dinner, be my guest.”

Rohn nodded and walked away, while Gurjin took his post. He stood stiff and strong until the dungeon door clanged shut. As soon as they were alone, he let out a heavy sigh and slumped against the wall. “So far so good,” he muttered, sitting down on the floor next to the cell.

Rian sat down against the wall closest to Gurjin. “You have no idea how glad I am to see you.”

“I can imagine,” Gurjin said, taking a wine skin off his belt. “You want to tell me just what in the fiery depths of Thra is going on?”

Rian stuck his hand out through the bars. “Dreamfast with me. You’ll see everything.”

Gujin gave his hand a wary look. “The Lords say you have a disease that poisons your mind. They say it could spread through dreamfasting.”

Heat flashed over his face. He felt like all his blood had suddenly flushed out of his body. “That’s a lie!” he shouted, and a sick lie at that. They took away his one sure way to show the truth. It felt violating. Dreamfasting was something sacred to gelfling, their purest form of trust and compassion, and the Skeksis cut him off from that. If the others believed…

But not Gurjin. They couldn’t turn Gurjin against him. “Please, you can’t believe them. You must know I’d never hurt Mira, even if I was sick.”

Gurjin shushed him sharply. “Listen. I’m not supposed to be here. Toyln didn’t put me on this rotation. He doesn’t trust me and, honestly, he’s right not to.”

“So, you believe me?” His heart slowly began to rise out of despair. “Back there, when they dragged me off, I thought you didn’t.”

Gurjin’s eyes softened and he shook his head. “You were talking crazy, Rian. All that about the crystal and a secret machine…”

“It’s the truth!”

“Shh…” Gurjin hissed again. “I’m willing to hear you out.”

“What changed you mind?”

“When you drew your sword on me.”

“Really?” Rian raised an eyebrow. “That’s the part that made you think I wasn’t crazy?”

“When you did that, I thought, ‘either he’s gone completely barking in the last few hours, or he really is trying to protect Mira. And, since you seemed fine when I last saw you not even 2 hours before… I just don’t think gelfling go mad in that amount of time.”

“So dreamfast with me,” Rian begged, sticking his hand out again.

Gurjin shook his head. “I told you, I can’t. Everyone’s under strict orders not to dreamfast with you.”

“You can’t seriously still be taking orders from them!”

“It’s not that.” Gurjin said. “Like I said, they don’t trust me. Rohn already knows I’m here and I had to trade Nessa a whole bottle of blackberry wine to let me take her shift. If one of them squeals to Tolyn and they catch me dreamfasting with you…”

“You’re right. You’re in enough trouble as it is, and you’ll be no good to anyone if you’re thrown in here with me.” Rian slumped against the wall and looked up at the stones above his head. “I don’t suppose my word is proof enough?”

“I didn’t risk all that because I like the smell of the dungeon so much,” Gurjin said, popping the cork off his wineskin. “Ready to tell me what happened?”

They passed the wineskin back and forth as Rian recounted the whole tragic event. The feeling of utter helplessness returned as he remembered her standing frozen in front of the crystal. He could see it all so painfully clear. The fear in her eyes as she realized what was happening, her cries for help that the Skeksis only met with mockery, that horrifying moment when she dissolved completely, not even leaving a body behind to return to Thra… It turned his stomach and stabbed a bleeding wound in his heart.

He let the tears fall from his eyes and he felt Gurjin’s hand reach through the bars to touch his shoulder. “She loved you,” Gurjin said, his voice choked with his own tears.

“And you,” Rian returned. They were best friends, all three of them. They had been since their training days. Her loss not only left a hole in Rian’s heart, but in Gurjin’s as well. It was daunting to think how her vivacious spirit could be snuffed out so quickly. This amazing person, so full of life, was now suddenly, somehow, gone from this world.

Gurjin wiped his eyes and reached back for the wineskin. “So, what now?”

“Don’t suppose you could let me out of this cell?”

“Ha!” Gurjin let out a bitter laugh. “As if they trust me with a key, any key. Had to ask Tolyn to let me into my gear locker. Then he searched it.”

Rian huffed out an old gelfling curse and flicked a stray tear off his cheek. “He didn’t take your contraband, did he?”

“You think I’m dumb enough to keep contraband in my locker?” Gurjin passed the wineskin back to Rian. “Please, its under the loose floorboard under my bunk.”

“So, Tolyn’s a problem.” Rian thoughtfully tapped his finger against the wineskin. “But he’s not the real captain, now is he?”

“No, no he’s not.” A wicked smirk grew on Gurjin’s face. “Maybe someone ought to remind him of that.”

“Don’t do anything rash,” Rian warned. “My father should return from Ha’rar tomorrow morning. You need to make sure you get to him first. Don’t let anyone talk to him. If you can get him down here to dreamfast with me, he can rally the guard behind him. We could take the castle and put an end to it before anyone else gets drained.”

“Sounds simple enough,” Gurjin reached for the wineskin again, “a little too simple.”

“But the hard part will be getting him down here before he learns anything else,” Rian said, handing the wineskin over. “No doubt Tolyn will be fighting to get to him first.”

“I have no qualms about pushing Tolyn down the stars if that’s what it comes to.”

Rian’s lips quirked upward. “Just don’t hurt him too bad. He’s a good fighter and we’ll need all arms we can possibly get to take the castle.” He reached out for the wineskin again, but instead, Gurjin clasped his hand.

“I’m with you,” Gurjin swore, his eyes deadly resolute, “until the end.”

A lump formed in the back of Rian’s throat as he clasped Gurjin’s arm with both hands. “There’s one more thing.” Fear shook his voice as he went on. He’d been considering this since he was locked up, and, frankly, he was surprised they hadn’t done it yet. The prospect terrified him, but they had to be ready for the possibility. “If I’m not here tomorrow, if I suddenly disappear…” He took a breath. “The lab is in the catacombs beneath the center of the castle.”

Gurjin’s face melted into horror. “Rian…”

“The easiest way to get there is to climb down the Crystal’s cavern. The evidence will all be there. Perhaps the Scientist will even save some of my essence like he did Mira’s.”

“Don’t talk like that!” Gurjin shook as furious tears formed in his eyes. “I’ll do everything I can to get you out of here.”

“You need to know this if you’re going to go on without me,” Rian insisted.

“It won’t come to that!”

“But it might.” Rian tightened his grip on his friend’s arm. He needed this. He needed to know his mission wouldn’t die with him. “I’ll need you to go on. Rally the gelfling. Stop them from doing this to anyone else.”

“I will. But you’ll be there too.” Gurjin did his best to embrace him through the bars. “I won’t let the Skeksis have another one of my friends.”

**Author's Note:**

> A special shout out to Blackaquokat for coming up with the title!


End file.
